January 13, 2006

He and his wife of almost 21 years wore similar wire-rimmed glasses. His were only slightly more angular than hers. They both have short-cropped brown hair....On the first day of hearings, her red suit with its contrasting piping matched his red tie. On the second day, she echoed his pale blue shirt with her blue sweater, which fell discreetly to mid-thigh. On the fourth day, her white jacket over a red dress mirrored his white shirt and red tie.

Givhan skirts very close to sneering, but in the end, she seems rather admiring. Or is that patronizing?

I'm a WaPo subscriber. It's my local paper. Having said that, Robin is biased ass. Remember when John Roberts went to the White House with his wife and 2 young children? Robin did a snarking article on the dress of the kids, and asked why they weren't dressed at the GAP. My take on their apparel was that they were dressed by their mother in what middle America used to call "Sunday Best". Totally appropriate for a 4 and 5 year old in a trip to the White House.

Oh, man, is this trend in analyzing the fashion choices of people in/seeking serious job going to continue?

There must be a market, so I guess so. But how ... peripheral it seems to me.

And Ann, with the references to Sears Portrait Studio, Brooks Brothers, Redbook, and the cable-knot cardigan, I don't think Givhan "skirted" sneering. I'm probably being obtuse, or blinded by my dislike of Givhan's work, but I'm not seeing the rather admiring part. What are you perceiving that I'm missing?

I read the article to try and detect it's tone, but was, instead, caught wondering who would think that writing on such a topic would be of any interest (except to make fun of it on a blog), let alone of enough interest to be published in a major paper.

Anyway, if it's sneering or patronizing, it reminds me of some criticism shot at Cheney when he attended a ceremony at Auschwitz a few years ago - apparently everyone thought it more important to write about what that dastardly Republican VP wore than, say, the events that made Auschwitz significant. I somewhat recalled a piece in the NYT and even a remark by the Manolo (who probably is the only one to acceptably make such remarks), but googling just now comes up with an article by the same author of today's piece. A sneering or patronizing tone in today's piece would fit the pattern.

God forbid we New Jerseyans look like we're going to Sears at one of our many malls - how middle class of us!

A few years ago, my family went to Sears for some portraits. My only regret was not going to Walmart instead.

ccmcornell: My sisters-in-law swear by JC Penney. Apparently there are two--strike that--three kinds of people in the world ...

Me, I'm meek on that issue and go along to get along.

I like candids (or do-them-yourselves, which are basically the same thing) better, under the theory that if God had wanted us to be frozen portrait-style, He would have made us actually look that posed and polished in real life.

Knoxgirl: I had to reTiVo the episode after an older episode wiped out the new one, what with all the rebroadcasts. I got the DVD of the first season in the mail yesterday so I switched to that. I'll get to the new episode soon.